by Michael dEstries
Categories: Transport
Tags: .

President Obama took a bit of time on Thursday to check out the plug-in Chevy Volt while attending a groundbreaking ceremony for the Compact Power battery plant in Holland, Mich.

The $303 million dollar project is expected to employ about 400 people when it opens in 2012 to make lithium-ion batteries for electric-powered cars, including the Chevy Volt and Ford Focus.


Categories: Transport
Tags: .
Photo: Getty Images/GM

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

View all posts by Michael dEstries →
  • David

    What will happen with an all electric vehicle if it runs out of power? Yes I know the Volt is not all electric, but this is a question I have had for awhile.

    With a regular or hybrid vehicle, you just get a ride to the nearest station buy a can and a gallon or two of gas/diesel and you have enough to drive to the station and fill up.

    But you can’t buy a can of electricity. Do you have to get the vehicle towed to somewhere to plug it in? Or do they have to bring a small gas powered generator with the correct connections to the vehicle and wait a half hour or more?

    • From MN, with hope…

      That’s the real problem with electrics. The Volt is what I call a ‘diving board’ because it’s a range-extended EV. It’s batteries will be recharged when it reaches 30% charge. It allows you to go further than the batteries allow, which is only 40 miles. An all-electric one has been rumored, but not much has been heard about it since. With the Leaf, that’s the issue. Many owners of old EVs, like the Rav4 EV, S10 EV, and other from the late ’90s that weren’t destroyed, pull generator trailers to recharge the batteries on the go (like the Volt, but with better electric range), or they have solar panels to recharge it on the go. Many who are making some electrics have proposed things such stations where you go to a place, and your low-charge battery pack is swapped out with a fully charged one, which may pose problems for water-proofing, but I think that it is an excellent idea, and it has potential. It is just like now, except you don’t have to put a pump in your car, you just sit in it (judging by the concept I saw) and wait for the pack to be automatically replaced. Also poses and issue in places where it snows, because it might get frozen-over, but there are ways around that as well. The whole issue about range though is why I think fully-electric isn’t the future, but a step in the right direction. I believe hydrogen is the future.

      • D. Lee Willliford

        I agree that cars like the Volt are only an interim effort towards solving a very challenging problem; the need to produce power from energy while conserving the same. I doubt that fully electric vehicles will ever be a satisfactory solution for a number of reasons, including the amount of carbon emissions required to produce the electricity to fully charge the batteries in an EV when a power line hook up is needed. The coal-burning electric power generating plants along the Ohio River,in the past,have produced sufficient smokestack emissions to cause acid rain in Canada! Alternative fuels may well be the answer!

  • Les

    The Volt has a tandem gas engine to recharge batteries when needed during use.